The JMB Journal

Ban on Images

Is there a ban on images in Judaism and Islam? A year ago, a symposium held at the Academy of the Jewish Museum Berlin tackled this question. Our symposium investigated how people have treated images in various epochs, regions, and religious traditions, how a ban on images was justified theologically, and what alternative art forms resulted from it. These questions have lost none of their relevance today.

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Published by the Jewish Museum Berlin

In this issue of our JMB Journal, we present selected papers from this symposium as a basis for discussion.Silvia Naef examines the founding religious texts in Islam with regard to their provisions on representative images. Inka Bertz addresses the ambivalence between a ban on images and adoration of the image, while Emile Schrijver looks closely at a special art form: the micrography. Eckhard Nordhofen offers an overview of the medial history of monotheism, while Frederek Musall incorporates modern media, particularly comics and pop-art, into his analysis of how Jews have interacted with images, and Berlin artist Elke Steiner has drawn a comicstrip for us.

You can browse through and read this issue of the JMB journal on issuu.com.

The JMB Journal

Women

October 2014 saw the opening of the special exhibition "Snip it! Stances on Ritual Circumcision," which is solely about men – as a contrast, the eleventh edition of the JMB Journal is devoted to the opposite sex and presents quite different aspects of the theme "women." Twelve essays, reports, interviews, and collages focus on women in a wide variety of ways.

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Published by the Jewish Museum Berlin

For example Micha Brumlik, publicist and senior advisor at the Berlin-Brandenburg Center for Jewish Studies, writes about learned women in Judaism. The reporter Inge Günther journeys to female peace groups in Israel, while the scientist Verena Schneider examines sexual violence in wars and crises. And in "A Blessing and a Nag", journalist Olga Mannheim takes a tongue in cheek look at the Jewish woman.

As usual, our section "Inside JMB" gives you a glimpse of what’s going on at the Jewish Museum.

You can browse through and read this issue of the JMB journal on issuu.com.

The JMB Journal

Body

How we dress, how we eat, how we present ourselves – our bodies communicate who we are. Religious symbols, fashion accessories, diets, and hairstyles can reveal our social affiliations and differentiations, or display our self-image and the assumptions of others. Our bodies reflect our society.
The new JMB Journal takes a closer look at the body, which is of special meaning in Judaism: Numerous passages in the Talmud refer to it, so that speaking of a "Jewish body" is not as absurd as it may at first sound.

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Published by the Jewish Museum Berlin

Increasing scientific knowledge may influence our faith, along with the way we see ourselves and, perhaps, choose to modify ourselves. Body modifications that are skin-deep, such as tattoos, have been subject to trends and traditions for millennia. The same applies to fashion, which today comments explicitly on the world.

As usual, our section "Inside JMB" gives you a glimpse of what’s going on at the Jewish Museum.

You can browse through and read this issue of the JMB journal on issuu.com.

The JMB Journal

Times

"Man does not know his time." And yet: We schedule our days, we celebrate, we pause and remember times long past. We create rituals which structure our weeks, months, and years, such as the Shabbat or the High Holidays. So-called rites of passage have great meaning for our private lives and we celebrate them accordingly; in social life, we share memories of public events, such as remarkable soccer matches. A magazine on "Times."